New trapezoidal box is harder to stack but much easier to open.

If you want to feel like you're buying an iMac but you don't want to drop the cash (or if you're waiting for the 27-inch version), we've got you covered today: first we told you what it was like to try to get one early this morning, and now that we've succeeded in our quest, we're going to walk you through taking the new computer out of its box.

Apple is known for paying close attention to the packaging of its products, and while other computer makers have improved their own boxes quite a bit in the last few years, new Apple boxes are still noteworthy enough for a picture tour.

The first thing you'll notice is that the new iMac's box is thinner than the old one, but not quite in the way you'd think. The old box was perfectly rectangular, but the new box is trapezoidal, with a wider base and narrower top. This seems like it would make the computers difficult to stack up if you've got a lot of them.

Remove the styrofoam block and you'll get your first glimpse at the computer. Older iMacs would need to be yanked upward out of their boxes at this point, an annoying process especially for the large, heavy 27-inch models. Not so anymore: the new box has a front face that falls completely open.

Enlarge/ The front and back sides of the box aren't actually attached to one another.

The styrofoam in the bottom of the box is also a bit different than it was before. Previously, there were two big chunks of foam that grabbed at the base of the iMacs and didn't want to let you pull it out of the box; now, you can easily lift the iMac off of the styrofoam bases and then pull the remaining foam off from the left and right. Much easier.

Enlarge/ The iMac and some of the styrofoam lifts off of a couple styrofoam bases...

Enlarge/ Peeling the cloth and plastic wrappers off of the iMac will reveal your new computer.

Andrew Cunningham

The first thing you notice once you've actually extricated the iMac from its various wrappings is that it is indeed much slimmer than previous models. It's not uniformly thin throughout as some of Apple's product photos would have you believe, but it is much thinner and much less boxy. The non-reflective screen is also immediately apparent; when I photograph most gadgets, I need to take great pains not to appear reflected in their super-glossy screens. You can't see me in the picture of the iMac despite the fact that I'm sitting right in front of it. Some reflections, especially light sources, still appear, but the situation is much improved over every iMac since the 2007 model introduced the aluminum-and-glass aesthetic to the line.

Enlarge/ The iMac looks the same from the front, if you don't count the non-reflective screen.

Enlarge/ But from the side, the computer is much slimmer. There is, of course, no optical drive.

Andrew Cunningham

We have yet to turn the system on, so we'll leave further observations for our full review. One final thing to note is the iMac's complement of ports. The 21.5-inch iMac picks up a second Thunderbolt port for the first time, and the SD card slot has been moved to the rear—in older iMacs the SD card slot was adjacent to the optical drive, and we've heard some horror stories about people who have inserted their cards into the wrong slot by mistake.

135 Reader Comments

in older iMacs the SD card slot was adjacent to the optical drive, and we've heard some horror stories about people who have inserted their cards into the wrong slot by mistake.

When I worked for AppleCare, this was actually a huge call driver, along with people inserting oddly-sized/shaped discs into the optical drive slot. I wouldn't be surprised if Apple's push to remove optical drives from all their machines isn't at least partially driven by a desire to cut down on PEBKAC-induced repairs.

Wait... has Apple finally managed to create a glossy screen that doesn't suck? The glare on my 5,1 MBP is atrocious - no matte option was available when AppleCare sent it to me as a replacement upgrade - but this new screen looks like it would actually be bearable in places where you can't control the lighting. They need that tech on their portables yesterday.

I'd love to see more about the new anti-reflective coating they're using.

The 21.5-inch iMac picks up a second Thunderbolt port for the first time, and the SD card slot has been moved to the middle—in older iMacs the SD card slot was adjacent to the optical drive, and we've heard some horror stories about people who have inserted their cards into the wrong slot by mistake.

I can see how an SD slot wouldn't fit anywhere else with the new design, but I really don't see the point of having it at the back, obscured by the stand? That seems pretty inaccessible...

Wait... has Apple finally managed to create a glossy screen that doesn't suck? The glare on my 5,1 MBP is atrocious - no matte option was available when AppleCare sent it to me as a replacement upgrade - but this new screen looks like it would actually be bearable in places where you can't control the lighting. They need that tech on their portables yesterday.

It already is. The Retina MacBook Pro's have the same sort of screen technology that Apple claims reduces reflections by "up to 70%". If I remember correctly it's because the entire display is fused together into one unit, and there is no longer a piece of cover glass on top of the LCD. The laptops actually had it first, then Apple brought it to the iMac.

The trapezoidal shape of the box is bad Feng Shui, the energy gets trapped in the corners. It's so elementary, and yet they still find ways to get it wrong.Also, the way that power cable is coiled is all wrong. No one pays attention to detail anymore !

The crippled 21.5" version is nothing to get excited about. If Apple insists on removing features from a desktop computer to make them optional accessories, then don't charge the same price as the previous model that included those features. The speed increase isn't that spectacular. Even the base model 27" now costs $100 more than the previous model that included features that were removed. If you want to remove features, great, but how about lowering the price a few bucks for those features that were removed? The non-upgradable memory and slow laptop drive in the 21.5" model would be enough of a reason to avoid that one. The $1,299 model doesn't even allow a hard drive upgrade. You are stuck with the slow drive. You have to get the $1,499 model if you want a fast hard drive. Add 16GB of RAM and the 1TB Fusion Drive, and now you are at $1,949! Ouch! The 27" at $1,799 at least gives you a fast hard drive and upgradable memory options by the user.

You'd be surprised, actually. Sometimes even a powered hub isn't enough for some hardware when you have lots of it. I have an amazing 12 USB devices in frequent use, 1-2 hard drives, 4 music/audio-related ones and one development iPad included. Some of them are low-traffic, but some absolutely don't like sharing bandwidth/power. As long as you can manage with merely 4 ports at a time you can switch in and out all day under circumstances like mine

The combination of placement and the number of ports is a good reason to get Thunderbolt expansions, in my opinion. I wish Apple had more USB ports on their computers

He can get a damn usb card reader if he uses it more than a blue moon, they cost like 20 bucks at most.

Then why even install one? Maybe they could have put it on the bottom or on the side opposite the optical media? Or maybe a greater separation, with the optical media near the top and the SD card near the lower edge?

True, most accessories stay plugged in usually, but it's a major pain for those of us who frequently use USB dongles. There are periods where I have to plug in a portable USB key a few times a week. It's a real pain having to blindly grope around and then end up having to turn the whole thing sideways. Honestly, I wish they could have just one port somewhere on the front side.

You'd be surprised, actually. Sometimes even a powered hub isn't enough for some hardware when you have lots of it. I have an amazing 12 USB devices in frequent use, 1-2 hard drives, 4 music/audio-related ones and one development iPad included. Some of them are low-traffic, but some absolutely don't like sharing bandwidth/power. As long as you can manage with merely 4 ports at a time you can switch in and out all day under circumstances like mine

The combination of placement and the number of ports is a good reason to get Thunderbolt expansions, in my opinion. I wish Apple had more USB ports on their computers

One reason I mourn the Firewire port. With up to five devices powered by the Mac from one port I only ever used USB ports for connecting my camera or charging my iPad. It is going to be a long while before we see a similar range of peripherals for Thunderbolt so until then we are stuck with USB.

True, most accessories stay plugged in usually, but it's a major pain for those of us who frequently use USB dongles. There are periods where I have to plug in a portable USB key a few times a week. It's a real pain having to blindly grope around and then end up having to turn the whole thing sideways. Honestly, I wish they could have just one port somewhere on the front side.

I have a USB extension lead connected permanently and use that to plug in my camera or iPad. Much better than having to reach round the back of the iMac, or in my case, the side of my Macbook Pro.

I can appreciate pointing out the odd-shaped box, but come on. If you guys are going to spend 8 paragraphs talking about the damn box, maybe you could start covering unboxing other NON-APPLE hot items?

I know someone will hate me for saying this, but I'm sure you'll write 4 more articles on your iMac before the end of next week, all mostly saying the same shit (see: iPad coverage) and I'd just like to request that you give the same level of gushing, biased worship to other cool electronics products.

For the record, I will be the proud owner of a new iPod Mini as soon as it arrives from Apple, so you can save your anti-Apple remarks for someone else. I'm just sick of Appletechnica instead of Arstechnica.

Definitely form over function. Forced to use a slower 2.5" drive, USB on the back (people use memory sticks all the time), non-upgradeable. No optical drive, I've ripped many a CD/DVD on mine, and sent in photo collections for art shows etc.

More power to them though for maintaining their high margin on a desktop, people seem to like it well enough. On a laptop you have to carry around I see the point, not so much on a desktop.

I know someone will hate me for saying this, but I'm sure you'll write 4 more articles on your iMac before the end of next week, all mostly saying the same shit (see: iPad coverage) and I'd just like to request that you give the same level of gushing, biased worship to other cool electronics products.

I know they're considered "old school" nowadays, but lacking an optical drive on a 27" machine seems a bit odd to me. My kids have plenty of movies they love to watch and re-watch on DVD and I've got some too. Isn't media-watching a big part of what you do with a 27" all-in-one? And unlike a laptop, on a 27" all-in-one there's no compelling "we needed to cut a quarter-inch of thickness" argument against including an optical drive.

This isn't news. Why is this in my RSS feed? I thought this was a *technical* blog.

Ah, your behavior is so predictable it was predicted. It was a clearly labeled post, why not just leave it alone? Clicking the link and posting on the article is self-defeating behavior based on your views.

Andrew Cunningham / Andrew has a B.A. in Classics from Kenyon College and has over five years of experience in IT. His work has appeared on Charge Shot!!! and AnandTech, and he records a weekly book podcast called Overdue.